Abstract

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the most common chronic viral infections in the world. Iran has a low to intermediate HBV prevalence and approximately 1.5 million people are living with HBV infection. The impact of HBV in Iran is unknown and given the very low levels of alcohol consumption, this region provides an opportunity to examine the impact of isolated chronic HBV infection. Objectives: To examine and evaluate outcome and prognosis of HBV in Iran. Patients and Methods: A longitudinal cohort study dating from 2003-2010 was performed. The patients were assessed six months after their first visit and then during periodic visits for the subsequent seven years. The patients' medical history, route of diagnosis of infection, family history, and liver diseases status including: carrier state of HBV, chronic HBV, cirrhosis, and HCC were recorded. Descriptive and analytic statistics were performed, using SPSS software version 18. Results: 275 HBsAg positive patients, who had completed a 7 year follow up period, were selected. The annual incidence rate for chronic hepatitis B in inactive carrier states and cirrhosis were 0.46 and 0.2 respectively. Over seven years, the rate of inactive carriers decreased by eight percent (They turned into chronic HBV or became HBSAg negative). No significant association was found between HBSAg seroclearance, HBeAg seroconversion and the outcome in the end of each year of follow up. Different treatment regimens did not have any statistically significant difference regarding HBeAg seroconversion. There was no significant association between the outcome and different habitual characteristics, especially smoking, as well as family history on HBsAg, HBsAb, HBeAg, and Anti-HBeAg. Values of platelets and ALT showed a significant change during the follow ups. Annual incidence rate of HCC in the present study was in the range of other studies. Conclusions: These data confirm and extend data from other populations showing a low incidence of significant change in chronic HBV infection in short term with good responses to currently available therapeutics.